Truist executive, ophthalmologist and former college chancellor named to VCU board – Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the appointments Thursday, along with appointments for 14 other college boards and two statewide boards. 

The governor nominates members to the boards of visitors, who oversee each of Virginia’s 15 public colleges. Board members typically serve a four-year term that can be renewed once.

VCU’s new board members are Ellen Fitzsimmons, Dr. Clifton Peay and Vernon Dale Jones. Fitzsimmons oversees legal operations, government relations, corporate communications and more at Truist.

Peay is the founding medical director of the American Eye Center in Mechanicsville. He was a VCU board member in the 1990s. Jones is a former chancellor and chief academic officer at Penn State’s Wilkes Barre campus. He was also a vice president at Hampden-Sydney College and a former VCU professor. 

Youngkin also nominated one current member of the VCU board, Peter Farrell, a former Virginia delegate and a managing partner for Tuckahoe Holdings. 

Three members of the board conclude their terms: Dr. Gopinath Jadhav, who was appointed by then-Gov. Ralph Northam in 2018; Coleen Santa Ana, who was appointed by Northam in 2019 and Stuart C. Siegel, for whom the school’s basketball arena is named, and who was appointed by Northam in 2018.

Board members appointed Thursday:

State Council of Higher Education for Virginia

• William Harvey of Hampton, president, Hampton University

• Cheryl Oldham of Alexandria, senior vice president, Center for Education and Workforce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation; vice president of Education Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

• Walter Curt of Port Republic, CEO, Power Monitors Inc.

Christopher Newport University

• Richard Bray of Chesapeake, CEO and chairman, Beazley Foundation

• John Lawson II of Newport News, executive chairman, W.M. Jordan Company

• Kelli Meadows of Henrico, founding partner, Meadows Urquhart Acree and Cook LLP

• Charles “Larry” Pope of Williamsburg, retired president and CEO, Smithfield Foods, Inc.

• Boris Robinson of Round Rock, Texas, founder and CEO, BGR Financial Coaching LLC

College of William & Mary

• Kendrick Ashton Jr. of McLean, co-founder and Co-CEO, The St. James

• Stephen Huebner of Toano, retired vice president, Bon Secours Health System, Inc.

• C. Michael Petters of Newport News, president and CEO, Huntington Ingalls Industries

• Laura Rigas of Alexandria, senior vice president, Syneos Health

Eastern Virginia Medical School

• G. Robert “Bob” Aston, Jr. of Livingston, N.J., chairman of the Executive Board, Towne Bank

George Mason University

• Reginald Brown of Alexandria, partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

• Lindsey Burke  of Fairfax, director, Center for Education Policy at the Heritage Foundation

• Michael Meese of Oak Hill, president, American Armed Forces Mutual Aid Association

• Ambassador Robert Pence (ret.) of Washington, D.C., chairman, The Pence Group

James Madison University

• Former Del. Dickie Bell of Staunton, retired educator

• Teresa Edwards of Chesapeake, regional president, Sentara Healthcare

• Suzanne Obenshain of Harrisonburg, small business owner and operator

• Michael Stoltzfus of Bridgewater, president and CEO, Dynamic Aviation

• Jack White of Fairfax Station, partner, McGuireWoods LLP

Longwood University

• Judith Lynch of Christiansburg, legislative aide, Virginia House of Delegates

• Kristie Proctor of Hanover, executive director, The Virginia Rural Center

• Ronald White of Midlothian, vice president of member and public Relations, Southside Electric Cooperative, associate pastor, Providence United Methodist Church

Norfolk State University

• Dwayne Blake of Hampton, retired corporate vice president, Huntington Ingalls Industries

• Gilbert Bland of Virginia Beach, chief executive officer, Urban League of Hampton Roads

• Katrina Chase of Chesapeake, owner and president, Faith Broadcasting Corporation and Christian Broadcasting Corporation

• Conrad Mercer Hall of Manassas, retired CEO, Dominion Enterprises

• James Jamison of Virginia Beach, franchise owner, Globus Medical Inc.

• Delbert Parks of Manassas, vice president and site executive, Micron Technology MTV

Old Dominion University

• Dennis Ellmer of Virginia Beach, president and CEO, Priority Automotive

• Brian Holland of Virginia Beach, CEO, Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group

• E. G. Middleton III of Norfolk, owner and operator, E. G. Middleton, Inc.

• Elza Mitchum of Virginia Beach, president, C&M Industries, Inc.

• P. Murry Pitts of Charlottesville, former CEO, Burlington Medical and BarRay Products

Radford University

• Jeanne Armentrout of Fincastle, executive vice president and CEO, Carilion Clinic

• Jennifer Wishon Gilbert of Mount Jackson, freelance journalist

• George Mendiola of Manassas, president, Forfeiture Support Associates, LLC

• James Turk of Blacksburg, partner, Harrison and Turk, P.C.

University of Mary Washington

• Andrew Lamar of Midlothian, principal, Lamar Consulting

• William Lee Murray of Fredericksburg, managing director and partner, Cary Street Partners

• Davis Rennolds of Richmond, senior vice president, McGuireWoods Consulting

• Terri Suit of Fredericksburg, chief executive officer, Virginia REALTORS, former state delegate, Virginia’s first secretary of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security

University of Virginia, UVA-Wise

• Bert Ellis, Jr. of Hilton Head, S.C., CEO and chairman, Ellis Capital, and chairman and CEO, Ellis Communications KDOC LLC, and president of Titan Broadcast Management

• Stephen Long of Richmond, president, Commonwealth Spine and Pain Specialists

• Amanda Pillion of Abingdon, member of the Abingdon Town Council, audiologist, Abingdon Hearing Care and Abingdon ENT Associates

• Doug Wetmore of Glen Allen, senior vice president, Centauri Health Solutions

Virginia Commonwealth University

• Peter Farrell of Henrico, Managing Partner, Tuckahoe Holdings, former state delegate

• Ellen Fitzsimmons of Atlanta, chief legal officer and head of public Affairs, Truist Financial Corporation

• Vernon Dale Jones of Alexandria, former chancellor and chief academic officer, Pennsylvania State University, Wilkes-Barre campus

• Clifton Peay of Richmond, ophthalmologist, American Eye Center

Virginia Military Institute

• John Adams of Midlothian, Equity Partner, McGuireWoods, LLP

• C. Ernest Edgar IV of Tampa, Fla., general counsel, Atkins North America

• Thomas E. Gottwald of Richmond, chairman and CEO, NewMarket Corp.

• Meaghan Mobbs of Fairfax, executive director, Save Our Allies, vice president for Client Strategies, LINK

Virginia State University

• Victor Branch of Chesterfield, senior vice president and market manager of corporate affairs, Bank of America

• Valerie Brown of Chesapeake, executive pastor, Mount Global Fellowship of Churches

• Thomas Cosgrove of Williamsburg, senior manager of external affairs, Newport News Shipbuilding

• Robert Denton, Jr. of Blacksburg, founding director, School of Communications at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Harold Green, Jr. of Midlothian, physician, Bon Secours Health System, Inc.

• Leonard L. Hayes III, of Silver Spring, Md., senior vice president and special adviser for HBCU initiatives, Strategic Education Inc.

Virginia Tech

• Edward Baine of Moseley, president, Dominion Energy Virginia

• David Calhoun of Sunapee, N.H., president and CEO, The Boeing Company

• Sandy Cupp Davis of Blacksburg, retired owner BCR Real Estate and Property Management

• Charles “Brad” Hobbs of Virginia Beach, president and CEO, Hobbs and Associates, and managing director and chairman, Insight Partners